THE ITALIAN WAY

A chance meeting with Donna Karan in New York completely transformed the course of Pinetti’s future. It was 1988, and the famed American fashion designer suggested that the Italian brand, which had till then made mainly wooden objects, consider making ones entirely covered in leather.

“It changed everything for us,” says Lorenzo Pinetti, the company’s CEO and whose parents, Alberto and Ezia Pinetti, met Karan a few years after launching their eponymous brand in Bergamo, Italy. “We had to learn new techniques, buy new machinery, even change the way we work”.

Today, Pinetti is known for its diverse leather items, which range from desk accessories to bocce ball sets and the graceful woven baskets that have become its trademark. The trusted partner of several high-fashion and furnishing brands, all its products are still made in Bergamo before making their way to luxury hotels, restaurants, yachts and homes worldwide.

The Spirit of “Made in Italy”

“Bergamo is a medieval city dating from Roman times that inspires you everywhere you go,” says Lorenzo. “We try to infuse every item with a piece of Italy, like its tradition, history, art, architecture and family,” he adds, emphasising how most of his team’s 42 local artisans have been with the family for many years, with some having known him since he was five years old.

For Lorenzo, “made in Italy” is more than a romanticised notion — it represents the inextricable tying together of culture and innovation.

Currently 80% of the company’s products are made by hand, and the other 20% using machine, such as lasers for cutting and engraving. Lorenzo’s brother, Andrea, heads the company’s digital transformation, which currently involves VR and AI implementations. “We have about 7,000 items going through production at our factory every day, so it’s important to understand the huge amount of data this generates,” says Lorenzo.

Despite its technological innovations, some things remain immutable at Pinetti like the quality of its leathers, which it sources exclusively from historically renowned tanneries in Tuscany and Veneto. Also vital are its highly skilled artisans, who ensure that only leathers that match perfectly in tone and texture are stitched together, or that the distance between leather strips on woven baskets are always the same.

“These are very small details but getting them right is critical because clients can see and feel the difference,” says Lorenzo.

“It’s very important to us to make beautiful objects of the highest quality which you can use every day, live with, and even play with.”

— LORENZO PINETTI, PINETTI

Custom-made to please

Extravagant bespoke orders are par for the course at this level of luxury. These typically involve requests for exotic fish and reptile leathers, such as an ongoing project involving game sets made in a very rare, bi-coloured alligator skin.

Other recent commissions include insulated picnic baskets for an Italian luxury hotel as well as a special rolling shoe cabinet to accommodate a yacht owner’s high-heel collection for land excursions. Completely enrobed in weather-resistant leather, it hides an incredibly light and strong aluminium frame with honeycomb panels that required significant research.

Pinetti took a similarly granular approach to its collaboration with Marina Bay Sands, starting the process with mood boards containing materials, colours, surfaces and even “feelings”, which in the Paiza Collection’s case, felt “very luxurious but also like relaxing at home,” says Lorenzo.

For its collection, which includes tissue boxes, soap dispensers and trays for bath sheets and grooming accessories, Pinetti used a “serene and elegant” muted-taupe leather and walnut wood details that matched the “softer” shape and textures of details elsewhere in the suites.

“Small objects are the final details that give value to a space, but at the same time they must be part of the environment,” says Lorenzo, who’s particularly fond of the collaboration’s tic tac toe box. This comprises a precisely cut walnut wood holder, stitched leather tray and satisfyingly solid, three-dimensional spheres and crosses in translucent Volterra alabaster.

“I hope that when guests use one of our games or containers, they can feel the love we put into it. It’s very important to us to make beautiful objects of the highest quality which you can use every day, live with, and even play with,” says Lorenzo. “We want you to fall in love with them.”